cool hand luke
First Post
is he doing this in character, or out of character?
What to do about Greedy Players?
- Thread starter katzemagische
- Start date
MarauderX
Explorer
Did the new guy start out behind in level or GP? That could be the first reason the others are generous to him , but it doesn't sound like it if you posted here.
I agree with the cursed items - they are a great way to make the new guy super paranoid, just be careful it doesn't backfire. What you could do is also have him the target of a thieve's guild when he comes into town. It could be a nice plot hook, or tangent adventure, in which the deeper the new guy delves into the dark underworld the more his resources are used. Make him use up his potions, wands, etc. and break a magic weapon to even find the BBEG, and reward them only with GP, or vice versa.
I agree with the cursed items - they are a great way to make the new guy super paranoid, just be careful it doesn't backfire. What you could do is also have him the target of a thieve's guild when he comes into town. It could be a nice plot hook, or tangent adventure, in which the deeper the new guy delves into the dark underworld the more his resources are used. Make him use up his potions, wands, etc. and break a magic weapon to even find the BBEG, and reward them only with GP, or vice versa.
katzemagische
First Post
The issue started when the PC's encountered a secret community, which consisted of less than 40 people and between these said 40 people, they had maybe 50 gp to rub between them. The PC's were allowed to leave only if that tithed to the communities temple and did an act of kindness. The Veteran player said, sure I'll give you all the money I have and do your act of kindness. Greedy player said, 'I'll give you 10% and that's all!'
Their act of kindness was to clear out a cave full of big baddies and in due course of their cave crawling they came across the equipment of members of the struggling community. Greedy player said keep it all. Veteran said give it all to the community. Roleplaying the entire cavern crawl as to whom was going to get the majority of the lute. In the end the community picked out what truely belong to them and allow the PC's to split the rest between them. Greedy player said I want the boots, the ring and etc. Veteran player said okay you can have it all, and proceeded to give every last gp to the church. So one PC took just about everything and the other took nothing and proceeded to barter for new items.
I was wanting to make greedy PC stew a little in the wake of an awe inspiring display of well.... greediness. The other player's don't mind, but when you seed a dungeon with items for all the player's and one gets the majority, well, I don't think its very fair.
I was thinking along the lines of cursed weapons too, like that idea alot.
Thanks for the info.
Katzemagische
"Three majors can't be all that bad!"
Their act of kindness was to clear out a cave full of big baddies and in due course of their cave crawling they came across the equipment of members of the struggling community. Greedy player said keep it all. Veteran said give it all to the community. Roleplaying the entire cavern crawl as to whom was going to get the majority of the lute. In the end the community picked out what truely belong to them and allow the PC's to split the rest between them. Greedy player said I want the boots, the ring and etc. Veteran player said okay you can have it all, and proceeded to give every last gp to the church. So one PC took just about everything and the other took nothing and proceeded to barter for new items.
I was wanting to make greedy PC stew a little in the wake of an awe inspiring display of well.... greediness. The other player's don't mind, but when you seed a dungeon with items for all the player's and one gets the majority, well, I don't think its very fair.
I was thinking along the lines of cursed weapons too, like that idea alot.
Thanks for the info.
Katzemagische
"Three majors can't be all that bad!"
Marauder X has a good point. Magic items are resources to be used and used up.
Cut down on the number of non-charged or non-limited items while increasing situations where magical assistance is very helpful. This will encourage the party as a whole to push for the use of any items available, even the ones being hoarded.
It doesn't frequently matter who carries the items as long as they're all being used to benefit the entire party appropriately.
If the hoarding player doesn't cooperate to help the party then there's a real problem with the player (or if in character, the character) not being a true team member.
Also toss in magical and non-magical methods for occasionally removing and/or interfering with the remaining non-charged items. Not too many, but enough to encourage the party to look to the charged items for aid.
Then there are the other types of treasure to look to. Insert more art works or non-monetary treasures that the party will have to cooperate to recover and somehow sell. kind of hard to hide a 6 foot tall marble masterpiece statue from the rest of the party.
And what about those magical fish a collector offered to pay the party for if they could find and bring them back alive? Figuring out a method of transporting an aquarium full of delicate, and rare magical fish will require a lot of effort and make it very unlikely the treasure hog can get away with hoarding more than a fair share of the profits.
Make sure when doing all of these things that you provide time and encouragement for the artificers in the party to craft their own magic items should they want to do so. That will help redirect some treasure and effort into manufacturing scrolls, potions, wands, and other items. By doing this you can offer up bits of treasure the hoarder might not see as interesting, but someone else will appreciate because it is an ingredient for their upcoming magic item.
(The magical fish idea came to me about 20 years ago due to a similar type of player.)
Cut down on the number of non-charged or non-limited items while increasing situations where magical assistance is very helpful. This will encourage the party as a whole to push for the use of any items available, even the ones being hoarded.
It doesn't frequently matter who carries the items as long as they're all being used to benefit the entire party appropriately.
If the hoarding player doesn't cooperate to help the party then there's a real problem with the player (or if in character, the character) not being a true team member.
Also toss in magical and non-magical methods for occasionally removing and/or interfering with the remaining non-charged items. Not too many, but enough to encourage the party to look to the charged items for aid.
Then there are the other types of treasure to look to. Insert more art works or non-monetary treasures that the party will have to cooperate to recover and somehow sell. kind of hard to hide a 6 foot tall marble masterpiece statue from the rest of the party.
And what about those magical fish a collector offered to pay the party for if they could find and bring them back alive? Figuring out a method of transporting an aquarium full of delicate, and rare magical fish will require a lot of effort and make it very unlikely the treasure hog can get away with hoarding more than a fair share of the profits.
Make sure when doing all of these things that you provide time and encouragement for the artificers in the party to craft their own magic items should they want to do so. That will help redirect some treasure and effort into manufacturing scrolls, potions, wands, and other items. By doing this you can offer up bits of treasure the hoarder might not see as interesting, but someone else will appreciate because it is an ingredient for their upcoming magic item.
(The magical fish idea came to me about 20 years ago due to a similar type of player.)
WizWrm
First Post
I wouldn't agree with giving him cursed items; he's probably well aware he's taking more than his fair share and if he gets more than his fair share of cursed loot, he'll start thinking, "I bet it wouldn't have been cursed if Fred had gotten it."
Here's my totally off-the-wall suggestion: give him a familiar. Preferably an imp or quasit. It doesn't approach him at first; just speaks telepathically, or from invisibility, into his ear. It encourages him - when there's loot to be had, it says, "Take it all!" When a beggar asks for cash, it says, "He's probably a lazy layabout who makes his living begging. I bet he's rich too. You should punish him."
Don't let him know who or what is speaking to him at first; just pass notes about things he hears that no one else can and grin smugly. When he catches it in the act, it offers to be his familiar (no matter what class he is). While his familiar, it offers him things, extra snippets of power that seem risky but pay off perfectly at first. For example, if he's a wizard or cleric with access to planar summoning, it gives him the name of powerful demons and can force them to serve without payment. If he's a fighter, maybe while in a dungeon it tells him to take a left while the rest of the party takes a right, and he comes upon a nice magic sword.
But don't forget to make it turn sour - the imp gives him the name of a more powerful demon, and it shows up all right - but totally unbound by his magic, whereupon it proceeds to wreak havoc. The sword turns out to be both intelligent and chaotic evil. That kind of thing. I'm sure you can think of a heap of other things to do.
Here's my totally off-the-wall suggestion: give him a familiar. Preferably an imp or quasit. It doesn't approach him at first; just speaks telepathically, or from invisibility, into his ear. It encourages him - when there's loot to be had, it says, "Take it all!" When a beggar asks for cash, it says, "He's probably a lazy layabout who makes his living begging. I bet he's rich too. You should punish him."
Don't let him know who or what is speaking to him at first; just pass notes about things he hears that no one else can and grin smugly. When he catches it in the act, it offers to be his familiar (no matter what class he is). While his familiar, it offers him things, extra snippets of power that seem risky but pay off perfectly at first. For example, if he's a wizard or cleric with access to planar summoning, it gives him the name of powerful demons and can force them to serve without payment. If he's a fighter, maybe while in a dungeon it tells him to take a left while the rest of the party takes a right, and he comes upon a nice magic sword.
But don't forget to make it turn sour - the imp gives him the name of a more powerful demon, and it shows up all right - but totally unbound by his magic, whereupon it proceeds to wreak havoc. The sword turns out to be both intelligent and chaotic evil. That kind of thing. I'm sure you can think of a heap of other things to do.
Thresher
First Post
We had one of those once, it was in character... mostly, except for the whinning, that was both.
He calmed down a bit after a necklace of strangulation and a girdle of giant strength that reversed his gender.
Both where quite funny events, the burly male dwarf fighter turned into a buxom dwarf female and having to explain it to his clan, plus the panel beating of the armour along the way.
(We nearly got him/her married too...)
It was also quite surprising to see just how long a dwarf with a con of 19 takes to choke to death, it takes ages!
He calmed down a bit after a necklace of strangulation and a girdle of giant strength that reversed his gender.
Both where quite funny events, the burly male dwarf fighter turned into a buxom dwarf female and having to explain it to his clan, plus the panel beating of the armour along the way.
(We nearly got him/her married too...)
It was also quite surprising to see just how long a dwarf with a con of 19 takes to choke to death, it takes ages!
LuYangShih
First Post
If the other characters do not mind, I do not see the problem. As was said earlier in this thread, if everyone at the other end of the table is happy, there really is no problem. I dislike the cursed items trick as it is immature and solves nothing. This is a PC issue. As long as it is all happening in character, and no one takes it outside the game, I think it is perfectly acceptable.
katzemagische said:
The first thing to remember, here, is that adventures (especially this one) don't (didn't) happen in a vacuum! The secret society knows who did what. The "seasoned player's" PC will be seen as a friend and benefactor, the "greedy player's" PC as, well... greedy!
Reaction adjustments for the "Seasoned" PC should be, say, +3, and -3 for the "greedy" PC. If you use any sort of "Reputation" in your game, the "Seasoned" PC's should be positive, and the "greedy" PC's negative. This will plague the latter (and aid the former) until they leave that community...
If, at some other point, the "Secret Society" becomes non-secret, the "greedy" PC's "fame" (or infamy" will also become known abroad.
While within the purviews of the "Secret Society", Mr. Greed will have trouble getting help, find prices higher, receive the negative modifier to all reaction adjustments, all Gather Information rolls, all attempts to interact with the community, all Performance checks, all Balance and Tumbling checks made to draw a crowd, etc.... Meanwhile, the "Benefactor" will be reaping similar benefits.
Mirage_Patrick
First Post
Maybe I missed something
Maybe I missed something:
The secret community said "we won't let you leave unless you give us money and fight a foe for us" (but in a bit nicer message).
The "generous" player gave everything, and wanted to give everything from the loot of the creature.
The "greedy" player gave 10% and fought the creature.
Maybe I am missing something, but gererally being forced to be "nice" does not invoke much generosity. Honestly I think the greedy player was generous in giving as much as he did.
Overall I would say that the "greedy" player was being more in character than the generous player. Agai, maybe I am missing something, but it sounds like this wasn't a voluntary donation...sorta like the mob asking for donations.
Maybe I missed something:
The secret community said "we won't let you leave unless you give us money and fight a foe for us" (but in a bit nicer message).
The "generous" player gave everything, and wanted to give everything from the loot of the creature.
The "greedy" player gave 10% and fought the creature.
Maybe I am missing something, but gererally being forced to be "nice" does not invoke much generosity. Honestly I think the greedy player was generous in giving as much as he did.
Overall I would say that the "greedy" player was being more in character than the generous player. Agai, maybe I am missing something, but it sounds like this wasn't a voluntary donation...sorta like the mob asking for donations.
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